Alex Fox, CEO, Shared Lives Plus

It’s been a busy Shared Lives week, with local Shared Lives schemes holding events all over the country. The highlight for us was our parliamentary reception, hosted by former charities Minister, Nick Hurd MP, at which Luciana Berger MP (Shadow Mental Health Minister) also spoke, along with Cllr Richard Kemp (LGA Lib Dem Spokesperson on Health and Social Care), Chief Inspector of Social Care Andrea Sutcliffe and two of our new Ambassadors, Dipan and Paul. We launched this new report on the impact of Shared Lives on people’s health, with a foreword by NHSE CEO, Simon Stevens and a new short film on the same subject, featuring Pauline, Joe, Karen and Robert, who spoke afterwards about what Shared Lives means to them.

Sally Percival, a parent and co-Chair of Think Local, Act Personal, who was one of a number of TLAP colleagues at the event, said:

Talking to the Shared Lives carers and even more importantly listening to the people who live in Shared Lives homes share their positive stories of happiness, fun and personal growth made me believe that as precious as my children are, this is the type of home-from-home living that we would consider right for them. That has never happened before and gives me hope for the future. Before learning about Shared Lives, I just assumed they would be living with us forever and that’s really not healthy for any of us.